EXPERIMENTAL-INFECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF LEISHMANIA-MAJOR BY LABORATORY-REARED PHLEBOTOMUS-BERGEROTI PARROT

The ability of colony-reared Phlebotomus bergeroti Parrot to successfu lly acquire and transmit Leishmania major (strain IPAP/EG 89/SI-177) w as demonstrated in the laboratory. Female P. bergeroti were fed natura lly on infected mice and artificially on infected blood suspension usi ng a chick-skin membrane apparatus. Groups of sand flies, either infec ted on mice or by membrane feeding, were dissected and examined using fight microscopy at 2-6, 8, 10, and 11 days postfeeding. Heavy promast igote infection of the thoracic and abdominal midgut was observed in 1 0% (2 of 20) of the naturally infected flies. Promastigote: maturation was observed in 87% (81 of 93) of the artificially infected sand flie s, with promastigotes observed in the cibarium and mouthparts at five days postinfecton, and infective metacyclic stage promastigotes observ ed at eight days postinfection. Ten days postinfection: 31% (10 of 32) of the remaining artificially infected sand flies refed on an uninfec ted BALB/c mouse. Twenty-eight days following exposure to the infectiv e sand flies, leishmanial lesions were observed on the pads of the mou se's front feet. The development of lesions on mouse foot pads clearly suggests the potential of P. bergeroti to serve as a vector for L. ma jor.